Atmospheric Feedback of Urban Boundary Layer with Implications for Climate Adaptation

Atmospheric structure changes in response to the urban form, land use, and the type of land cover (LULC). This interaction controls thermal and air pollutant transport and distribution. The interrelationships among LULC, ambient temperature, and air quality were analyzed and found to be significant in a case study in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. Within the urban canopy layer (UCL), traffic-origin PM2.5 and black carbon followed Gaussian dispersion in the near road area in the daytime, while higher concentrations, over 1 order of magnitude, were correlated to the lapse rate under nocturnal inversions. In the overlying urban boundary layer (UBL), ambient temperature and PM2.5 variations were correlated among urban-wide locations indicating effective thermal and mass communications. Beyond the spatial correlation, LULC-related local urban heat island effects are noteworthy. The high-density urbanized zone along a narrow highway-following corridor is marked by higher nighttime temperature by ∼1.6 °C with a long-term increase by 2.0 °C/decade, and by a higher PM2.5 concentration, than in the low-density residential LULC. These results indicate that the urban LULC may have contributed to the nocturnal thermal inversion affecting urban air circulation and air quality in UCL and UBL. Such relationships point to the potentials of climate adaptation through urban planning.